With the focus today being ever more on keeping the world in a good condition for our children and grandchildren you might want to think about environmental factors before you purchase a new kennel for your dog.
Start by using a dog kennel guide to help you to decide which type of kennel would best suit your needs and then weigh up the environmental cost of buying that type of kennel. Kennels are usually made of one of three materials, which will concentrate on here.
Wood
The production of timber, as long as it’s from a sustainable source, has a relatively low environmental impact. Chopping down trees and producing wooden planks produces relatively low carbon emissions into the atmosphere and the growth of the trees in the first place will have helped to reduce the carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. It is also often possible to recycle the wood once it is no longer being used to make a dog home or else it will biodegrade nicely over time. You can build yourself a large dog kennel from wood and not worry overly about the impact that you will be having on the earth.
Plastic
Plastic kennels may look pretty in all their different colours but environmentally they are a disaster. The initial production of the plastic itself involves the use of toxic chemicals which pollute the air and then infiltrate the waterways. They are known to cause a range of illnesses, including cancer, if exposed to them. Once the kennel is no longer needed it will just end up in a landfill site for ever as plastic doesn’t biodegrade. Burning of plastic would just put those toxic chemicals back into the atmosphere again so don’t be swayed by the fact that many local councils say that they re-cycle plastic, it will always end up as waste. You will need to weigh up carefully the benefits of a lightweight and easy to clean kennel with its impact on the environment.
Metal
The extraction and smelting of metal uses a lot of oil, which is a dwindling resource, and the by products of these processes are the emissions of carbon monoxide and other gases into the atmosphere. However, once the metal has been produced and used, it is easy to recycle again and again. In fact it is thought that up to 50% of metal used today has been already used before. A metal kennel or run is not the end of the world environmentally speaking.